Raise your hand if you believe the Giants’ 5-3 start is a precursor to their first playoff appearance since the 2011 season, when they won their last Super Bowl.

The Giants, riding a three-game winning steak, play a “show-us-the-money’’ game Monday night at MetLife Stadium against an inconsistent Bengals team that has one win (against the 0-10 Browns) in its past four games.

Cincinnati, 3-4-1 but with game-changing talent on both sides of the ball, will serve as the perfect litmus test, because the Giants cannot be taken seriously as a contender to make the playoffs and possibly win the NFC East unless they beat the Bengals.

If we’re to take these Giants seriously, they must be 6-3 by the end of Monday’s game. Then they face the woeful Bears at home next week followed by a game against the hapless Browns in Cleveland the following week.

The math — and common sense — says the Giants should be 8-3 by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.

We’re a couple of weeks removed from Halloween, yet Giants coach Ben McAdoo might as well have been wearing a Bill Belichick hoodie Friday as he channeled his finest impression of the Patriots coach.

Every answer McAdoo delivered made it clear he has caught on to Cincinnati.

When asked about the 5-3 start and if it has given him any idea about how good his team is and can be, McAdoo said: “We’re looking forward. We don’t look at things from a big picture standpoint.’’

The Giants were 4-4, 3-5 and 2-6 at the halfway point in the previous three playoff-less seasons. When McAdoo was asked if he likes the position his team is in now, he said: “I like where we are this week at this point in time. [But] we’re focused on playing Cincinnati on Monday night.’’

An argument can be made that the Giants are lucky to be 5-3 given the fact that, including last Sunday, their defense was on the field with its back to its own end zone staving off the opposing team scoring the game-winning or tying touchdown in each of their three most recent wins.

That, however, does not deter the optimists in the Giants’ locker room.

“We keep doing this,’’ running back Rashad Jennings said, using his left arm as a graph-chart prop to show a steady rise in progress.

“The scheme is there,’’ Jennings said. “We just need to execute the details. That’s a good feeling to have.’’

Jennings called the Bengals a “playoff contending, battle-tested team’’ that provides the perfect barometer to how good the Giants are and can be.

“This is a good opportunity for us,’’ he said. “[A win] would get us momentum and momentum is a real thing.’’

Odell Beckham Jr.Photo: Getty Images

The Giants last won four consecutive games in the regular season in 2013 after an 0-6 start. In both of their most recent Super Bowl title seasons, they won at least four in a row. In 2011, they won their final six games, climaxed by the Super Bowl.

“We know how good we can be, but we’re not there yet,’’ linebacker Keenan Robinson said. “We still have a long way to go. We haven’t done anything yet.’’

Receiver Odell Beckham Jr. said he believes the Giants are “right there at 5-3.’’

“We want to make this run towards the back end of the season,’’ Beckham said. “[This is] a position I haven’t been in since I’ve been here. It’s great to be 5-3 at the moment, [but] you can’t sit here and be complacent with it. We have a great opportunity ahead of us.’’

That opportunity begins with a “show-us-the-money’’ win over a Bengals team that has been to the playoffs in each of the past five seasons, when the Giants failed to qualify. Beat the Bengals and then we’ll take the Giants a little more seriously.